Testimonial Tuesdays #4....CHURCH MOVE!

It's Tuesday which means Testimony day!

This is a writing exercise where we share answers to prayer....sometimes our answers are Yes, No, or Wait.  But He always answers! I'm linking up with Jerralea.....won't you join in and tell us an answer to one of your prayers?

image courtesy of the church website

It started out as a feeling in my stomach.

I'd sit in church, in the inner city of Troy, NY, a city I didn't really like, and my mind would be so distracted.  Distracted by the many children being allowed to run around the aisles.  Distracted by the noise in the back, the whispering, the crunching of potato chip bags.  The sadness that would overwhelm me that I was not "home". That I was no longer in a church that felt "right".  5 of my very good friends had already left.....my good friends, Mindy, Cheryl, Mary, Erin.  I felt like I didn't belong there........I had always felt a bit "different" anyways as for the longest time I was one of just a small handful of women who worked outside the home and didn't homeschool or have more than 1 child.  By the time I had 2 daughters, I felt so alone in the crowd so much of the time.  And the "crowd" was only about 100 people.

It was 2004 and I was really starting to panic.  I kept thinking we, as a family, were supposed to leave this church, yet my husband didn't feel it was time.  I had been feeling this way since about 2002.  He just didn't know if we should move to a different church.  But I did. I kept sensing that God wanted us to change churches. I felt like He wanted us in our own community.  My flesh wanted to go where a couple of my friends were going.  But that isn't what my spirit was sensing.  So I kept asking Dave about visiting other churches. He gave me the go ahead to visit other churches on our side of the Hudson River...the side where our home is and where there are many suburban churches.  I started visiting churches about once a month. I only chose Evangelical or Bible-based churches. Two of them I visited twice, praying each time for the Lord to show me just where we were supposed to be.  I started in September 2004 and by March of 2005 we were visiting the above site.  

As soon as we all walked into those main doors you see pictured above, we just knew this was where God wanted us.  It is so hard to explain in words.  From the greeters who held open the doors, to the ushers handing out bulletins, to the youth group pastor who welcomed our 12 year old, to the Kids Celebration workers who said hello to our 5 year old, we were hooked.

And the worship team!! Oh my.  And the sanctuary of respectful people all praising and worshiping God and no children running up and down the aisles.  And the pastor!  Oh the preaching of the Word of God with a vibrancy and power and the knowledge of Biblical Truth like we had never heard it before.

We started praying.  And God showed my husband that yes, it was time to move to this church.  We made the move the last Sunday of June 2005 when our youngest was done with Kindergarten and our oldest had just graduated from elementary school.  We immediately got her plugged in to the weekly Youth Group and our little one joined Awana, Kids Celebration (Sunday School) and summer VBS where she accepted Christ!! 

 Little did Dave know that I had been praying about Grace Fellowship ever since we first visited  that March.  We introduced ourselves to the pastor and his wife (and their daughter was in the same school as our oldest!) and the pastor told us this was a time for us to just rest. No ministry, no small group leading....just, rest.  That didn't last long though.  By the beginning of 2006 we were both serving in various ministries and taking the classes to become covenant members.  We saw the church over the last 10 years add 3 other campuses.  We have sites in Saratoga, Halfmoon, (both to the north of us) and East Greenbush( to the east of us).  We have stayed in our same town site...the main campus in Latham.  It is only a 7 minute drive from our house.  Our oldest is now in college and our youngest is now a 10th grader and student leader in her youth group.  We just love it and we have learned something new from Pastor Rex every.single.week. that he preaches. 

 

We are blessed and we thank God all the time for the answer to our prayer of making a move.  Although it wasn't in the time frame I was desiring, I am so glad we listened to that still, small Voice. We have never regretted it and we just wish we had done it sooner....but God's ways are best. Sometimes He says "Yes but  Wait."

Has there ever been a time when you just knew something needed to change but you had to wait on God for the right time??

Testimonial Tuesday #4: Not the Way We Expected

Welcome!  It's Testimonial Tuesday where we share a story of answered prayer/testimony.  This is hosted by Jerralea from over here.  Won't you think about linking up with us?

I was about 3 months (12 weeks) pregnant.  It was my 2nd pregnancy (and my last).  Our little girl, Courtney (a.k.a the Princess) was 4 1/2 when I became pregnant.  We had tried for about a year.  Gave up when nothing happened.  Dave had to work in Italy for 5 months the year Courtney was in 4 year old preschool.  He came home on a break and I got pregnant!  He did have to go back to Italy so I had to tell him the news over the phone.

At my 12 weeks ultrasound, the tech said "oh, we see a cyst". I thought she meant on me.  (although I had never had one before, at least not that I knew of).  When I asked where my cyst was, she said "no...it's on the baby's ovary....you're having a girl!".

They said they would need to watch this but not to worry as most of these types of cysts just pop during the birthing process and that about 10% of female babies have them.  I wasn't worried at all.  But I didn't like knowing our baby had this on her ovary.  

So...like the praying parents we were, we took this to the Lord in prayer and asked our good friends at church to pray. At the next ultrasound (I had three partly because I was an older mom...I was 38 when I got pregnant the 2nd time and although in the 1990's it was very common for women to wait, the ob/gyns still wanted to do a couple of extra ultrasounds. I didn't mind at all as being a special education teacher, I knew the various risks so had them check for those too.  I wanted to be prepared.  Her fingers/hands all looked normal so no Down Syndrome.  In fact, everything looked great.  But the cyst was still there.  And it was getting a little bigger

We continued to pray.  One week before her due date, on a snowy night (Dec 20, 1998) at about 11  pm,  I went into labor.  When we got to the hospital I was already in transition and she was born at 4:22 a.m. on December 21 (our Winter Solstice baby!) weighing 8 lbs 15 oz! and yes, I did this by all natural/no drugs birth.  I used the Bradley method.  I was supposed to deliver her in the birthing pool but my water had broken so they wouldn't let me get in.  They whisked her away for yet another ultrasound and sure enough...much to our chagrin, honestly...the cyst was still there and it was torqued around the Fallopian tube!

Surgery was scheduled for 10 weeks of age. That was one of the hardest things I've ever sat through!!  Dave and I started praying the cyst would be benign.

It was!!  Glory to God!!  Yes, they had to take one ovary and one Fallopian tube.  She will still be able to have a baby one day if she wants to. The pediatric surgeon said she might have a little more difficulty in getting pregnant but that she still could.  She has a little tiny scar from the surgery that is barely noticeable.  

Claire at 8 nonths at Tanglewood
August 1999

Our answer to prayer did not go exactly the way we would have wanted it to.  Of course we wanted it to just go away during the birthing process.  Of course we didn't want them to have to remove anything ....yet...God grew our faith big-time during that time period.  He showed us that HE is in control and that our children really do belong to Him.  

How we thank Him that it wasn't cancerous!!

God is good.  Even  during the harder times and with answering us in the ways we don't expect.

Claire at her Sweet 16 Party
December 2014

Testimonial Tuesday #3: How the Clunker Kept Going!

Welcome to Testimonial Tuesday, hosted by Jerralea, where we share short stories of answered prayer.  In this fast-paced culture it is good to sit and reflect on prayers that were answered and give glory to God.  How I love reading everyone's testimonies.  Won't you join in?  How did God answer a prayer for you?

We are having a very frigid winter here in the Northeast and I've heard from some family and friends who live in the south (East Coast) that they even have cold temps down there this week although NOTHING like up here in NY/New England.  This cold reminds me of one autumn Sunday many years ago when I first started hanging out with my husband. (back when we first got to know each other)  It was a cold, crisp morning in 1988.

Dave and I were friends who did many things together in groups of other singles from the church we were both attending.  Dave was in grad school and I had just finished grad school and was in my first year of Special Education, teaching in an inner city Pre-K and driving an old "clunker" my dad bought for me that I was slowly paying back.  It was a Ford Grenada (I refuse to buy American now) and was constantly in need of repairs.  Most stuff my dad could fix.  But here I was.....living about 2 hours east of my parents, in my own little apartment and dating a computer geek.  He knew how to change the oil and  change a tire and that's about it.  I could at least check fluids and realized that I had to be constantly putting in oil...every couple hundred miles, I would have to add a quart of oil.  I knew this was NOT good.

image courtesy of  flickr
this was the style car I had although mine looked worse!

One cold, late autumn morning, I was at the church and had hung out after the sermon to chat with all the singles and of course with Dave.  He walked me to my car which was parked in one of the city lots near the storefront church. (the church where we attended from 1987-2005)  I started the car. Nothing happened.  Re-tried it. Nothing.  We did this a couple more times, all the while hoping the engine wouldn't flood.  We had no jumper cables with us. Dave said "let's just lay hands on the engine" (we were in a Pentecostal- type church at the time that did this sort of thing. Often. I look back on that now and laugh but....hey...God cares about old clunker cars too ya know!!).  So..there we were....him, me and another guy friend.  We all laid our hands on the hood of the car and prayed in Jesus' Name for that car to start and get me through another week.

It did!!  And the car lasted for another 2 years......about 2 months into our marriage the summer of 1990!!

God knew I didn't have the extra money to get that car fixed while paying my daddy back.

So my Heavenly Daddy took care of me.

Yes, He cares about clunkers.

Testimonial Tuesdays # 2: His Eye

"His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me"

For those of us who were raised in Christian homes in the 1960s and 1970s, we grew up singing this song at prayer meetings, church camps, and in the corporate body on a Sunday evening.  

The lyrics are found here and it was the 2nd verse I was reflecting on, on Sunday during the start of the snow storm after getting a text that the bus was stuck in the snow!

I'm sharing a testimony of answered prayer by joining in with Jerralea's Testimonial Tuesdays for this month.  Feel free to share in the comment section or write your own post about an answer to prayer!

Here's a summary of my testimony:

Our 16 year old daughter Claire (a.k.a. the ballerina) left on Friday evening about 5 pm, in a bus with 75 other high school teens from our youth group, for Lake Hume New England in the Berkshires (about a 1 1/2 hour drive east of our church).  There were several adult and college-aged chaperones/leaders/staff going as well.  The plan was that the Yankee Trails bus would get them to the Winter Retreat and then pick them up on Sunday in time for them to be back at the church by 2 pm.  This was a great plan, considering the forecast for our area was for yet another snowstorm.

Camp policy is that all cell phones, iPads, etc are to be turned in for the weekend and the teens get them back once they are back on the bus heading home.  This was a huge stretch for some of them, my own daughter included. (this was not the policy last summer when we sent her there for a week).

Sunday afternoon came and with it an email from the leader stating that the bus was stuck in the snow about a mile from the camp so the teens would be getting back to the church much later than planned.  

Many moms and dads started praying.  I informed my small group to pray and put it on the FB praise and prayer group I am a part of.

This mom was a bit anxious.  But that song line kept running through my head.  His (God's) eye was on our daughter.  On all of the teens and staff and yes, on that bus driver!  That brought much needed peace to my mind!

To make a long story short...they did arrive back to the church about 6 pm in the start of the snow storm but they made it just fine.  No incidents on the Mass Pike or NYS Thruway........Praise the Lord!

Prayer is powerful.  Even on snowy days. 

How comforting to know His eye is on us........from the smallest bird to 75 teenagers on a bus!

Testimonial Tuesday 1: It's the Little Things

Greetings from snowy eastern NY where yesterday we experienced our first major snowstorm of the winter.  Today the sun is shining, it is very cold, but the wind has died down, the snow is crunchy and sparkling and I'm writing with other  bloggers about testimonies.  We are sharing a testimony via Jerralea's Journey.  Won't you join in and share something that God has done for you??  Because I am in a mega-church, we don't share testimonies in the corporate body...that is what our small groups are for...but I did grow up in a denominational church (Free Methodist) that shared testimonies on Sunday and/or Wednesday evenings (prayer meeting time!).  It's important to give God glory for the things He has done!

Testimony for the Week

It's just a simple thing really.  Going to God in prayer.  Yet what big outcomes can happen.  Sometimes we fret and worry and the Bible says we should not be doing that.  We need to take all things to God in prayer!

So I did.  After receiving the email from the head of Drivers Ed at my daughter's high school last week saying she had a spot in the Saturday classes for this new semester, I decided to let him know the 2 dates she would be absent so we could arrange the make up class.  The course cost is $400 because our school district does not offer drivers ed as part of the high school curriculum except through a private driving school.  So...the school contracts with the driving school and charges that amount.  It includes the 10 weeks of instruction plus the 5 hour required NYS DMV course work.  Well, the director got right back to me and said those reasons for absences (a church youth group retreat and her sister's college graduation) don't count as an excused absense!  PLUS we would have to pay $100 PER MAKE UP CLASS!!!!  So..that would be $600 for our 16 year old to learn to drive.  um......yikes.  Fear set in.

I asked God to help me.  First I asked him to control my temper because I was livid. The whole pay extra for make up classes is new since our oldest daughter did driving lessons in 2010.  After doing some research and going to the driving school website, I discovered that they offer various "driving packages" for teens/beginners.  I quickly asked God to show me just which package would be best for Claire.  And my eyes kept going to the "Silver" package.  I clicked on it and lo and behold, they said this is the package that most suburban parents choose for their children.  (yes, we are in suburbia, north of the city of Albany, NY).  I then followed the steps to see what the cost would be, praying the whole time it wouldn't be exorbitant.  For 6 one hour lessons (PRIVATE LESSONS MEANING NO OTHER KIDS TO SHARE THE DRIVING TIME WITH LIKE AT SCHOOL!!) it would only be $330.  The instructors are the same ones the school uses!!  They pick up the teen right at our door (another answer to pray) and they DO offer the required 5 hour course right at their driving school ON THE WEEKENDS so she won't have to miss her classes!!  They offer lessons after schools and both weekend days.  We get to choose!!

God is good.  He gave me such a peace about our decision to do the private lesson thing.

Claire is happy, my husband is thrilled that it's cheaper and I'm amazed that God cares for us so much that He even cares about a little old driving class!

image courtesy of imgkid.com